Internal combustion engines have a large number of sensors and actuators which cooperate with a control device for the purposes of control or regulation. In internal combustion engine development it is known to optimise this cooperation in such a way that the sensors detect the actual physical variables which are altered by the actuators with the accuracy required for the reliable, efficient operation of the internal combustion engine. The complete mechatronic system thus formed can be broken down into sub-systems. A first sub-system relates for example to the detection of the proportion of fresh air flowing to the internal combustion engine. A further sub-system relates for example to the regulated alteration of the proportion of fresh air flowing to the internal combustion engine. A further sub-system relates for example to the regulated alteration of a particular combustion air ratio. The individual mechatronic sub-systems are heavily dependent on one another. For example, the detection of the proportion of fresh air flowing to the internal combustion engine is of fundamental importance for the further sub-system which alters this proportion by means of a throttle valve or by means of a variable valve lift of the internal combustion engine. This dependence is also evident in the optimisation, also known as application, calibration or simply “adjustment”, of the internal combustion engine during the development of the internal combustion engine, i.e. the process of adjusting the sensor system to detect the proportion of fresh air flowing to the internal combustion engine, for example by means of a mass air flow meter, must be so accurate that the process of adjusting the actuator system to alter the proportion of fresh air flowing to the internal combustion engine can be carried out reliably and efficiently. At present, for this purpose, an operator carries out one adjustment process after another, a further adjustment process or a plurality of further adjustment processes being started when the adjustment of an individual sub-system has reached a particular degree of progress. The data record fragments thus obtained are then checked by the operator with regard to the plausibility thereof and are incorporated in a higher-level data record. According to DE102004013205A1, it is known to automate the adjustment processes of the mechatronic sub-systems of an internal combustion engine. In this case, an adjustment process is modelled graphically at planning level and is executed at implementation level using software for measuring and altering characteristic variables of an internal combustion engine, i.e. this method only makes it possible to automate the individual adjustment processes.